Sanchez Solá Released As Chivas USA Coach

CARSON (CBS/AP) — Chivas USA fired coach José Luis Sánchez Solá on Wednesday night with the team in last place in the Western Conference.

Chivas USA has a 3-7-2 record.

The team also said Sanchez Sola had “not always followed the patterns of respect and conduct implemented by Major League Soccer, as well as by Chivas USA.”

José Luis Real Casillas, the sporting development director at Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico, takes over as coach.

On Tuesday, former Chivas USA youth coaches Daniel Calichman and Theothoros Chronopoulos filed a discrimination lawsuit against the club, claiming they were fired because they aren’t Mexican or Latino.

The suit also claims harassment and retaliation based on ethnicity and race and seeks unspecified damages.

KCAL9’s Serene Branson sat down with Calichman on Wednesday, when the former Chivas youth soccer coach recalled a staff meeting when he and his colleagues were allegedly told by Chivas USA soccer team President Jorge Vergara non-Spanish speaking employees would be fired.

“He asked all of the people in the room, ‘Who can speak Spanish? Raise your hand…’ And then he said, ‘If you can’t speak Spanish, you can go work for the Galaxy.’

“There was no doubt. He spelled it out. I think it was very direct. They told me why I was getting fired,” Calichman said. “They told me I was getting fired because they were going back to their Mexican roots.”

Cristina Maillo Belda, a spokeswoman for Chivas USA, declined to comment on the lawsuit.